Delightful Longing: The Blue Umbrella

These days I have been watching a lot fewer movies than before. After writing my 50^th post (on Masoom) in the recall series, I have decided to take a break from old movies for a few days, and now I am catching up on some of the recent acclaimed Hindi movies that I didn’t pay much attention to at the time when they released. So this week I saw Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Haasil (after watching the superb Paan Singh Tomar), Satya (Ram Gopal Varma’s finest hour arguably), and Vishal Bhardwaj’s The Blue Umbrella. Haasil and Satya are widely recognized as brilliant films, and I concur with most of the glowing reviews received by the two movies that I read post watching them. But none of them has the haunting quality that the third film I saw has. Maybe it is because there have been many an attempts to rehash and cash in on the Satya cult (Ram Gopal Varma has done quite a bit of it himself), while the atmospherics of Haasil has been matched by movies like Gulaal and a few others. Or maybe it is just because the settings of Satya and Haasil are more familiar to the average Hindi movie audience.

On the other hand, The Blue Umbrella is truly a unique film. Everything- from its simple storyline, its performances, its setting, its intentions, to its unconventional execution has incredible freshness and charm. Prima facie it is a children’s film based on a novella by Ruskin Bond. Most certainly it is that, but more importantly it is also a film that makes you feel for its lead characters- and for that it takes a very difficult route- it makes you part of the longing the characters experience. Longing for acceptance, longing for joy, and longing for appreciation- wonderfully conveyed through their longing for a beautiful Japanese blue umbrella. The umbrella here is an important plot instrument, as while the story is woven around it, it also acts as a metaphor for all the small joys in life that may not be big achievements, but are certainly no less in the kind of happiness and satisfaction they lead to.  

The movie transports you to a small village in Himachal Pradesh. The setting is idyllic and pristine, from the rain-washed valleys to the snow clad roads, from the small kutcha-pucca huts to the almost family like village bonhomie. The people are as simple as they come- uncontaminated and pure. They have aspirations that don’t have the grand vision and scale like the aspirations of the city people have. Their smiles are genuine, their laughs are uninhibited. Their sorrows are sudden and wild like torrential hailstorms that leave behind a brighter landscape when they leave. Their slight quirks, their eccentricities may be jarring to the outsider, but they are a part of their way of life- their way of living.

Movies are stories on celluloid- it is an oft repeated statement. But this particular movie is the quintessential story on celluloid. There is no other way to describe it. It is like a page out of a children’s story book and its imagery gives an impression that that particular story book must be very well illustrated. Mr. Vishal Bhardwaj has certainly followed his instincts and a crystal clear vision. I have seen three of his other films- Makdee, Kaminey, and 7 Khoon Maaf. And ‘The Blue Umbrella’ is my favorite from whatever I have seen of him.

I strongly urge all the people who like movies and fiction- to watch this movie. It is just 90 minutes- and it will surely transport you to a world that is alien to us, but in a certain way a very small part of us. Just a tip- persist with the movie- Pankaj Kapoor’s weird ways and idiosyncrasies might put a few people off in the beginning- but by the end they will be sure to realize the finesse and dexterity of his performance.  

Kitaab (1977)

As a kid do you remember a time when you felt like the whole world was against you, that there was no one who actually cared how you felt, that all that the world wanted from you was to read and write, and behave properly? Do you recall yourself lying down in your bed, face against the pillow, with uncontrollable tears streaming down your face? Do you recall a time when you wanted nothing more, but to escape to a world where there were no teachers and no rules; a time when you wanted nothing more but the very peace of mind the world was conspiring to keep away from you? I do, and now that I sit back and reflect on those times, it all seems too childish. Childish… now I come to think of it, it’s the word which is one of the most abused and most incorrectly used one in the English dictionary.

As adults or as grown-ups, people feel that their childhood was the golden period of their lives. More often than not you would find people reminiscing and thinking about all the fun they used to have in school, and all the fun that they could have-but didn’t have. All this is fine, but ask a kid whether he feels that he is happy with the world around him, and the way his life is going on- more often or not you would not get an answer in the affirmative. A child’s world is a really complex one, where each problem is like a stone thrown from the top of a hill. To the child at the bottom of the hill, it is a stone that is moving down with great thrust, threatening to hurt him and damage his life. On the other hand, to the adults at the top, the stone is nothing but a casual flick of the wrist- something innocuous, and something that does not deserve much attention. Adults really will never understand the plights of their kids, or rather will refuse to understand them, and rightly so- for they know that these silly issues would pass sooner than later, and the kid will realize his folly at giving it too much undue importance. But what they don’t realize is that it is this very time when a child is most vulnerable, and any casual handling of the winds that- as per him- threaten to storm his life, may lead to deep effects on his psyche that may not wear off even when he grows up.

Gulzar’s ‘Kitaab’ is an exceptional reconstruction of a child’s mind. It is a movie that is so thoughtful and so precise, that it seems like Gulzar had put himself in a child’s mind to construct this story (or rather he might have taken some autobiographical references). It is story of a boy grappling with the world around him, and struggling to make sense of the things that happen and don’t happen around him, in a manner that seems far off from what he thinks is logical. Babla (Master Raju in an unusual lead role for a Hindi movie) lives in Delhi with his elder sister (Vidya Sinha) and her husband (Uttam Kumar). He has been sent to the city that is far away from his hometown, by his mother, with the aim of giving him better education and a better environment to live in and blossom. A twelve year old righteous kid, Babla, who likes reading and writing more than the subjects he is asked to tackle in his school, is confused by the world around him. He fails to absorb the fact that the world expects children to get educated so that they can lead a respected life once they grow up and face the ‘real world’. To him the street-side ‘madari’ kid seems to be in a better position for he is not made to attend school. To add to his confusion, he cannot understand why his mother has sent him away from her, and why his sister does not seem to have enough time for him. With the course of time he develops a stronger bond with his sister’s husband who seems to care for him a lot more than even his sister. On the schooling front, he is frustrated by the constant stream of letters that the school keeps sending to his home, asking his guardians to reprimand him for the naughty deeds he never commits, but always gets blamed for by the teachers. His only respite from the worldly troubles is his best friend ‘Paplu’ with whom he enjoys the simple pleasures of life.

But then all the things things bottle up inside his head and he runs away from his home and city, aiming to go back to his mother and his village, away from all the troubles and all the people who did not seem to understand how he felt. Kitaab is the story of his journey, and how he evolves and grows up within a span of two days. Gulzar presents the story in an innovative back and forth manner; setting it in the present and going back through flashbacks triggered by the things Babla observes during his journey. As with every Gulzar movie, there are some delightful songs (though not very well known), but very relevant to everything that the master was trying to say through this film. To talk about performances, Master Raju brings alive Babla on screen, and it won’t be an understatement to say that his performance is one of the best ones ever in Hindi cinema. The rest of the cast is efficient; Uttam Kumar deserves special mention for pitching in with a heartwarming and earnest act as Babla’s guardian, and the kid who plays Babla’s best friend Paplu too does a great job (so does everyone actually).

I can go on rambling about this movie, but instead of I will conclude with why everyone must watch this film-

·         You would have never such a thoughtful and sensitive tale on child psychology

·         This is Gulzar’s best work by far (There are a few movies of his I am yet to see- but it would be tough to surpass this gem)

·         It will definitely lead you to remember some of the times spent in school

·         It will help you emerge (hopefully) as somewhat better human beings by the time the movie end- better parents (present and prospective) for sure

·       It is one of the best movies to have come out of Hindi cinema- a true classic, and sadly a very lesser known one…

PS: If you thought ‘Udaan’ was good (which it was admittedly), just watch this one!!